The standard computer mouse having a roller ball on the bottom side tends to collect dust and lint or particles which eventually impede the smooth movement of the ball. The mouse when placed on a surface such as a mouse pad forces the roller ball into a recess or cavity. That recess or cavity is opened and exposed when the ball recedes into the cavity and food, lint, dust, particulates from cigarette smoke and the like resident on the mouse pad or mouse bottom is introduced into the mouse. A typical mouse translates the spherical rotation of the mouse ball into rotational movement of transducers in the mouse. These transducers or pickups may further employ springs and the like as part of the mechanism. When these transducers become fouled with dirt, dust, skin, food hair or the like they don't work well and the mouse becomes difficult to work resulting in erratic positioning of the cursor. Sometimes chemicals and/or solvents may be used in cleaning the transducers.
When the mouse is in use then dirt, hair, food and other contaminants resident on the mouse pad are likely to be carried by the mouse ball into the cavity of the mouse and foul the delicate mechanisms which translate the movement of the mouse into the movement of the cursor on the screen of the computer.
The resulting action of a dirty mouse ball on the screen of the computer is a cursor which cannot be steered properly to the desired location on the screen without a lot of extra motions. Cleaning of the mouse involves taking off the small guard on the bottom of the mouse, dropping out the ball and then manually removing debris from the ball. Sometimes the rollers within the cavity of the mouse must be cleaned as dirt accumulates therein absent maintenance of a clean mouse ball. This cleaning action often means disturbing the work in progress on the computer because false signals emanate from the mouse during the time the mouse is being removed or reinstalled or because the mouse buttons are accidentally bumped during the cleaning operation.
The mouse buttons are used to click on an icon or image on the screen of the computer. False signals make the cursor move around in an undesired fashion or may cause actuation of undesirable events in the computer operating system such as shutting the computer down.
Others have used a frame with a well therein for cleaning the mouse. Others have also provided cleaning apparatuses in which the ball must be removed from the mouse before cleaning and then a probe is inserted into the mouse for removing unwanted contaminants and debris. The cleaning devices, when inserted into the cavity of the mouse and in contact with the transducers and the positioning device, may damage the transducers or the positioning device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,910 to Messina issued May 28, 1996 discloses a mouse ball cleaning device wherein the bottom side of the mouse resides adjacent a cardboard overpiece and the ball of the mouse is permitted to drop down into a well which, at the bottom thereof, has adhesive film 16 mounted on a base piece of cardboard. The bottom of the mouse never touches or engages the adhesive. The '910 is incorporated herein by reference hereto and provides a background of the problems faced in the use and cleaning of a computer mouse.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,897 to Amos describes a tacky floor mat having washable adhesive thereon. The adhesives used in the '897 patent to Amos are insoluble in water, truly resilient, and must be soft enough to conform easily to the shape of the adherend, i.e., a foot or shoe of a person. The disclosure of the '897 patent is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,102 to Amos describes a tacky floor pad which includes a stack of plastic sheets having adhesive on the top sides thereof. The first sheet includes adhesive on the bottom side thereof for securing the stack to the floor and the edges of the stack are beveled so as to prevent undesirable tear-up of the thin plastic sheets. Adhesive on top of each layer of the stack of plastic sheets extends beyond the sheet above it to further prevent unwanted tear-up of the thin plastic sheets. The disclosure of the '102 patent is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,092 to Mondl et al. provides a good discussion of the prior art and the problems associated with contamination of a mouse. Further, Mondl et al. discloses a cleaning mouse ball for temporary insertion into a mouse which together with solvents cleans the transducers and positioning or tensioning rollers within a typical mouse cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,909 to Kawabe et al. and 5,153,254 to Chen disclose washable adhesives and the disclosure of each is incorporated herein by reference. The '909 patent discloses a record cleaner in the shape of a roller having an organopolysiloxane elastomer surface. The '254 patent discloses a washable gelatinous elastomer composition for use in cleaning a computer mouse. Col. 3, Ins. 28-31 of the '254 patent state that the lint remover can take on many shapes such as a swab and in various forms for cleaning a computer mouse.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,332 B1 to Yoshida et al. discloses a mouse pad comprising an adhesive laminate of a fibrous sheet made of ultrafine fibers to a substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,644 to Lai discloses a mouse device pad wherein the bottom layer of the device is constructed of a thin body of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compound foam that is pliant and has a certain degree of adhesiveness with a knitted fabric having similar soft and flexible properties glued onto the top of the PVC layer such that when the aforesaid mouse device pad is placed on the surface of a desk for mouse device operation, the PVC compound foam of the bottom layer is capable of providing greater stiction to prevent unwanted movement of the mouse pad.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,562 to Root discloses a washable adhesive which secures the mouse pad to its mounting surface.
The invention described herein requires no disassembly of the mouse and does not require a hole or trough in which to place the mouse or ball for cleaning. The invention described herein cleans a mouse and mouse ball in less than 15 seconds whereas the state of the art inventions require considerably longer cleaning times because of the need to disassemble the mouse or align the ball of the mouse into the trough.
A better understanding of the invention will be had when reference is made to the Summary Of The Invention, Drawings, Brief Description Of The Drawings, Description Of The Invention and claims which follow hereinbelow.